QUEEN BY-TOR

Patricia O'Bee

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SPECIAL COLLABORATOR: Honorary Collaborator

Member since: 9/13/2006 • Forum posts: 16091 • Last visit: 6/23/2021 3:44:19 PM EST
Location: Xanadu

Progressive Biography

Prog Bio

Ah prog, the music that we all love so much. I was very new to the genre when I joined this site and spent most of the following years simply trying to catch up on all the good music that's been made since 1967. While not the first or only music that I would come to love it's very clear to say now that it is my all time favorite genre, and that's fairly obvious looking at my CD collection or the posters on my walls.

Growing up I was always subjected to the music of my hockey-playing peers (been playing hockey since the age of 6) and quickly assumed that most music was stuck in the categories of pop or rap. It wasn't until high school that I would eventually find some music that I would like. and that was when some friends introduced me into the world of heavy metal. Iron Maiden, Helloween, and many others would become my music of choice (along with some Meat Loaf, Boston and Rush which my father would introduce me to).

(Anecdote time)

My introduction to prog wouldn't be for about another year after that when a friend and I were searching for new bands in the newly re-arranged local record store. Metal was where electronica used to be and rap was now where the metal section was. My friend and I were used to the change and started our search for the newest, coolest band. That was about the time that a man would enter the store being led by his friend. As we could quickly see, the man was blind, and as he made his way over to the (now) rap section we could see confusion fall over his face. Knowing where he was trying to go, we beckoned over to them. Grateful, they made their way over to what they were looking for. Still confused as to what to buy, I searched around the section some more. That was when the blind guy had a suggestion for me, a band that I had only heard of, Dream Theater. The album was called Awake, and the cover art was crazy enough that I decided to buy it. Immediately I threw it into my portable CD player after we were out of the store and I was quickly blown away. This music was fantastic!

It was after that I would try to find out what kind of music these guys were influenced by and it turns out that that would be a band I was familiar with, a group named Rush. I'd soon buy Rush's Retrospective best-ofs and would, again, be blown away. It was not long after that that a girlfriend would introduce me to another band that I'd heard about when we watched Pink Floyd's The Wall.

Soon after, while waiting in an airport to go off to Sweden to instruct hockey my father bought me a magazine to keep me entertained for the 23 hour flight. That magazine would be Mojo's ''The Story of Progressive Rock''. It was then, for the first time, that I would be able to put a label on the music that I was so rapidly starting to love. That particular magazine also opened up a brave new world of bands that I apparently needed to check out. Jethro Tull, Yes, Tool, King Crimson. as well as many others. So I did, and the more I did, the more I fell in love with the realm of Progressive Rock.

And then I discovered this site, and the number of bands that would inhabit my collection would start to grow exponentially.

I've spent my life living in Canada, the early part was mostly on the little rock known as Vancouver Island. I moved to Vancouver in late 2007 and have been living and working here ever since. in 2013 I finally got up the courage to live my life the way I have always wanted, and came out of the closet as transgender. I have since transitioned and am happily living my life as a woman with the support of my family, co-workers, friends and wonderful people on this site.

Favorites

Favorite progressive bands (and album by that band)

Rush (Permanent Waves)
Horslips (The Tain)
Dream Theater (Awake)
Saga (Worlds Apart)
Yes (Drama)

Honorable mentions:
Chris Squire (Fish Out of Water)
Spock's Beard (The Light)
The Tangent (The Music that Died Alone)
Ayreon (The Human Equation)

Favorite Non-Prog albums

Helloween - Master of the RIngs
Daft Punk - Discovery
Iron Maiden - Dance Of Death
of Montreal - Hissing Fauna are you the Destroyer?
Joe Satriani - The Extremist
XXYYXX - XXYYXX
Dire Straits - Making Movies
Alt J - An Awesome Wave
Foster the People - Supermodel

Ratings

My ratings are based mostly on recommendation as well as influence and importance. How much will other prog fans like it? How well played is it? How important was it to the band's career and how has it influenced other bands? It takes a very special album to get 5 stars. I also tend to stick very close to what the blurbs beside each rating says (ex. 3 good, but not essential).

All things considered, the only albums that I would deem unenjoyable (or not buyable anyways) are 1 star albums, most everything else has its charm -- Even a 2 star album could be enjoyed by fans of the band or a particular style of music.

Reviews distribution by sub-genre

	Sub-genre	Nb of reviews	Avg rating
1	Heavy Prog	73	3.47
2	Prog Related	56	2.98
3	Symphonic Prog	54	3.48
4	Crossover Prog	47	3.47
5	Progressive Metal	38	3.32
6	Eclectic Prog	30	3.93
7	Prog Folk	24	3.50
8	Psychedelic/Space Rock	21	3.90
9	Experimental/Post Metal	12	3.17
10	Proto-Prog	9	3.67
11	Neo-Prog	8	3.75
12	Tech/Extreme Prog Metal	6	3.33
13	Jazz Rock/Fusion	3	3.33
14	Post Rock/Math rock	3	3.33
15	Zeuhl	3	3.00
16	Canterbury Scene	3	4.00
17	Rock Progressivo Italiano	2	3.00
18	RIO/Avant-Prog	2	3.00
19	Various Genres	1	2.00
20	Progressive Electronic	1	4.00
21	Krautrock	1	4.00

Reviews and Ratings of PSYCHEDELIC/SPACE ROCK

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